Today is the feast of St Basil the Great and of his friend St Gregory of Nazianze. Basil, a capable 4th-century archbishop, is also a Doctor of the Church, and has been called "the Minstrel of the Holy Spirit". So I thought I would put up here a snippet from his De Spiritu Sancto, to give us an idea of his voice. Here he is defending the glory of the Holy Spirit against those who underestimate Him.
49. And His operations, what are they? For majesty
ineffable, and for numbers innumerable. How shall we form a conception of
what extends beyond the ages? What were His operations before that
creation whereof we can conceive? How great the grace which He conferred
on creation? What the power exercised by Him over the ages to come?
He existed; He pre-existed; He co-existed with the Father and the Son before
the ages. It follows that, even if you can conceive of anything beyond
the ages, you will find the Spirit yet further above and beyond. And if
you think of the creation, the powers of the heavens were established by the
Spirit, the establishment being understood to refer to disability to fall away
from good. For it is from the Spirit that the powers derive their close
relationship to God, their inability to change to evil, and their continuance
in blessedness. Is it Christ’s advent? The Spirit is
forerunner. Is there the incarnate presence? The Spirit is
inseparable. Working of miracles, and gifts of healing are through the
Holy Spirit. Demons were driven out by the Spirit of God. The devil
was brought to naught by the presence of the Spirit. Remission of sins
was by the gift of the Spirit, for “ye were washed, ye were sanctified,…in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the holy Spirit of our God.” There is
close relationship with God through the Spirit, for “God hath sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.” The resurrection from
the dead is effected by the operation of the Spirit, for “Thou sendest forth
thy spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” If here
creation may be taken to mean the bringing of the departed to life again, how
mighty is not the operation of the Spirit, Who is to us the dispenser of the
life that follows on the resurrection, and attunes our souls to the spiritual
life beyond? Or if here by creation is meant the change to a better
condition of those who in this life have fallen into sin, (for it is so
understood according to the usage of Scripture, as in the words of Paul “if any
man be in Christ he is a new creature”), the renewal which takes place in this
life, and the transmutation from our earthly and sensuous life to the heavenly
conversation which takes place in us through the Spirit, then our souls are exalted
to the highest pitch of admiration. With these thoughts before us are we
to be afraid of going beyond due bounds in the extravagance of the honour we
pay? Shall we not rather fear lest, even though we seem to give Him the
highest names which the thoughts of man can conceive or man’s tongue utter, we
let our thoughts about Him fall too low?
